New Delhi: The Russian film crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS), including actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko, returned to Earth on Sunday, October 17, after spending 12 days in space.
The Soyuz MS-18 manned spacecraft carrying cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and the Russian film crew landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday at 7:35:44 Moscow Time (10:05 am IST), as reported by the official Twitter handle of the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos.
Roscosmos tweeted: "TOUCHDOWN! Welcome home, @novitskiy_iss, Klim and Julia!".
The Russian space agency said the crew would undergo a 10-day rehabilitation to help recover from the effects of living in the microgravity environment.
Expedition 65 Ends And Expedition 66 Begins
Novitskiy, who commanded the spacecraft, has returned to Earth after spending 191 days in space. With this, the 65th expedition to the International Space Station came to an end, and Novitskiy completed his third spaceflight.
Roscosmos cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov will remain on the International Space Station for Expedition 66, a mission that officially began on October 17, after the departure of the Soyuz MS-18. Expedition 66, commanded by European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, will end on March 28, 2022.
Shkaplerov also congratulated Novitskiy and the Russian film crew on their successful return to Earth, through his Twitter handle.
"The 66th expedition begins at the ISS. Let's stay in touch!", he posted.
The Challenge Space Movie Project
The crew filmed most of the footage to be included in the Russian film titled 'Vyzov', meaning, The Challenge, according to a Roscosmos statement made public on Thursday. The Challenge is the first feature movie to be shot in outer space.
'The Challenge' will portray a woman doctor who had to go to space to save a cosmonaut's life. The film will show the training received by the doctor before going to space and the challenges faced by her while treating the cosmonaut in the environment of the orbital outpost.
Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, Oleg Novitskiy, and Pyotr Dubrov will also be featured in the movie.
The crew filmed scenes on both the Russian and international segments of the ISS, including the Cupola module.
The statement said most parts of the materials for the movie within the framework of the scientific and educational Challenge project had been filmed.
Konstantin Ernst, the head of Channel One TV Network and a co-producer of 'The Challenge' told AFP that the landing sequence will also be documented and featured in the movie, as mentioned in an AFP report.
Challenges During The Mission
The crew faced a number of troubles during the mission. While docking into the ISS, Shkaplerov faced trouble with automatic docking, because of which he had to switch to the manual mode.
Also, the ISS rotated by around 57 degrees on Friday, while Russian flight controllers conducted a test on the Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft, according to reports.
Watch this space for more updates.